Ithaca College

POLT 32000 - 01: The Politics of U.S. Citizenship CRN 43120

Attributes: Liberal Arts; Social Sciences; ICC Themes

This seminar explores the following question: "What does it mean to be an American?" from a number of perspectives (historical, theoretical, critical and global) in order to understand how citizenship is conceptualized, lived and experienced in the United States by different people under various circumstances.

We examine the way in which U.S. citizenship has been constructed and re-constructed through and by competing political visions and institutions, ideas/ideologies, moral/religious beliefs, social values, racial, ethnic and gender discourses, among others, over time.

We pay close attention to the articulation of citizenship at the confluence of race, ethnicity, class, gender, and religion as so-called "categories of difference" that often inform, if not structure, who can become an "American" and when certain political, social and civic rights ought to be recognized and protected. We consider how these "categories of difference" relate to the politics over immigration, migration, international travel, and the U.S. border generally.

Throughout the semester we explore how key national (and international) institutions – Congress, presidency, Supreme Court, the Census Bureau, United Nations, U.S. State Department and even local governments – shape debates over civic status, political community, and national identity.

Last, we look at the impact of trans-nationalism, multiculturalism and globalization on the meanings of U.S. citizenship, while illuminating the shifting civic dimensions of political membership today, and into the future.

For more information on this course, or if you have any questions, please contact Prof. Carlos Figueroa at cfigueroa@ithaca.edu.